Gavin Newsom urges a national 'billionaires' tax' while fighting one in California

Gavin Newsom speaks at the Center for American Progress Ideas conference in Washington DC on 19 May 2026. Photograph: Annabelle Gordon/Reuters View image in fullscreen Gavin Newsom speaks at the Center for American Progress Ideas conference in Washington DC on 19 May 2026. Photograph: Annabelle Gordon/Reuters Gavin Newsom urges a national 'billionaires' tax' while fighting one in California California governor calls for national tax on super-wealthy and suggests the US should own a stake in AI companies US politics live – latest updates California’s governor, Gavin Newsom , called for a national “billionaires tax” on Friday as he fights a ballot measure targeting the ultra-wealthy in his home state. Newsom, who is expected to run for president in 2028, published his proposal the day after California officials certified a ballot proposal to levy a one-time 5% tax on residents worth more than $1bn. The proposal, called the California Billionaire Tax Act, was brought by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) and would fund the state’s healthcare, education and food assistance programs. The proposal has received more than 1.55m signatures, but has spurred intense pushback from the state’s richest residents as well as several other prominent labor unions. California billionaire tax will appear on ballot after deadline for deal passes Read more Newsom strongly opposes the measure, arguing it will hurt the state’s economy. In his Substack post on Friday, Newsom expanded on his opposition and framed it as an ineffective solution. “I understand the anxiety driving the wealth tax proposal in California . But I’m voting no because this measure dedicates almost all of the revenue it raises to a single category of state spending,” Newsom wrote. Newsom argued that a state-level billionaire tax would be easily dodged by wealthy people who are able to move their assets to other states. Already, several billionaires, including Google co-founder Larry Page, have either threatened to leave California or made efforts to cut ties with the state. “You may not be able to pick up and move to Texas or Florida to shelter your income from taxation, but I promise you that billionaires can, and do,” Newsom wrote. “Wealth is movable, and it shops for the state with the lowest taxes. The fight belongs at the federal level, where this broken system was created in the first place.” In his Friday announcement, Newsom offered a counterproposal, a new national tax policy, rather than a state-by-state system. He proposed a minimum tax on anyone with a net worth above $100m. He also wants to make it illegal for the wealthy to borrow against their stock portfolios to fund their luxury lifestyles tax-free. He also said the US government should own a stake in artificial intelligence companies, a policy that the senator Bernie Sanders has also advocated for in recent months. Newsom said there should be new rules for inheritance taxes, warning